This hand is from early in a $1.10 MTT.
Reads: No reads on Exclusive-player had just joined the table and could have just registered late.
BB had seemed solid and had done nothing to draw my attention.
Player to my right had been limping/min-raising almost every hand, but folding to re-raises.

I had not played many hands and had won one at showdown with good cards. To anyone paying attention, my image was probably tight.

Thought processes: Pre-flop I'm out of position with a strong hand. No-one ahead of me has acted like they have a better hand. A raise will probably chase out they guy to my right, so I just call.

Flop is about as good as it gets...nut straight, nut flush draw. (At this point, I'm not even conscious of the royal draw). I check to see if anyone will bet at me. I begin hoping really hard that someone has something good. Everyone checks.

Turn is the royal flush card. I admit it rattled me a bit. I'm trying to figure out what anyone could have they would call a bet from me with. From pre-flop and flop action I can rule out a high A or high pair. At this point, I figure the best I can hope for is Kx,Qx, lower flush or str8 draw. I check.
Someone has something and bets. I call, hoping for more action on the river.

River...I just min-bet hoping someone will raise with a str8, low flush or fullhouse..just a call from one guy (who mucked Qx suited).

This is a situation which will not come up very often at all, I know. That is one scary board. Is this just a case of "the best hands winning a little, but losing a lot"? Are there things I could have done differently to extract more money out of this hand?

I am no expert, but I would have at least bet the flop and turn for value.

The problem with betting a scary board is that it can sometimes scare any action away. It is also so early that everyone is feeling the other players out and this reduces the opportunity of building a big pot.

On the flop, I cannot say I "fault" you for not betting out (assuming you are trying to extract max value). You hold the nut hand, you have multiple opponents to bet at a flop which figures to have hit their ranges acting after you, and you even have the nut re-draw if a "scary" heart comes. The only "free card" which could hurt you here is if someone is holding a set now. So checking the flop oop is not "bad".

On the turn, you make the mortal nuts (a royal) when the board pairs. NOW you are not sweating even the boat nor 4 of a kind! Lovely...

This is actually the point you should bet though...

That Q completes a flush draw, makes a lot of 2 pairs into boats, turns 2nd pair hands on the flop into trips, and even gies a measure of "protection" to a K/weak kick hand because now the T plays as the kicker.

The "idea" behind slow palying is that your hand is SO STRONG you are not worried about giving free cards, but there is the potential that your opponents are so WEAK that if you bet now they will not call. On the flop, the board texture did not say the opponents would NOT bet (broadway cards are meat and potetoes for the frequent caller), so you might have been able to "delay" any sort of raise until they did bet into your nut hand. But when they all FAILED TO BET, you must assume they did not have enough value in their hand(s), and take the lead in putting your value in.

They will either call, or fold.

Extracting maximum value often comes in the form of a good, but 2nd best hand runs into a better hand. If NO ONE holds anything on this flop, then a slow play is pretty useless; they aren't betting and they aren't calling if YOU bet. But that turn card could have radically changed the situation.

Since it also improved you to a royal flush (so you are NOT sweating any cards they hold now), you might THINK slow playing is still good. Unfortunately, if they still have nothing, then they are just checking behind you again (or betting tiny, like that piss-ant 60 chip bet). If you lead out though, you give the opponents who did hit the Q (either as a boat, a flush, or trips) achance to make a "mistake" by calling the price YOU'VE set...not the piss-ant 60 chips he wants to pay.

If the fold, fine...they probably didn't have enough to bet on anyway. But you never gave 'em a CHANCE to call more.

If they bet small (like they did), you cannot really check/raise and show "strength", in expectation of gaining more value (either on the turn or river), so the chance to gain extra value was to bet the turn in an amount you feel (based on your table reads) would most likely be perceived as a "stab" attempt. That way anyone who HAD hit the Q might have raised you, and you are giving lesser hands a chance to call for the amount you've chosen.

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